2013 Year In Review: WWE

An electrifying year.

Welcome to another installment in my annual Year In Review series! Here I will take a look back at the best performers, PPVs & matches from each major promotion that I watched this year and give an overall assessment of how much I enjoyed said promotion's product throughout 2013. What better place to start than the world's most famous wrestling promotion, the WWE! Find out just how good the WWE was this year after the jump!

The Best WWE Talent Of 2013

Win, lose or draw, these were the finest performers of the year.

Daniel Bryan nearly carried the WWE on his back this year.

 

1. Daniel Bryan (Last year: 2)

2. CM Punk (1)

3. The Shield (9)

4. Randy Orton (-)

5. John Cena (3)

6. AJ Lee (4)

7. Dolph Ziggler (6)

8. Alberto Del Rio (-)

9. The Wyatt Family (-)

10. TIE: Antonio Cesaro (-) & Goldust (-)

 

The Best WWE PPVs Of 2013

These cards delivered the goods and left the viewer the most satisfied.

This year, the WWE produced the best Summerslam in over a decade.

1. Summerslam [10/10]

2. Money In The Bank [9/10]

3. Payback [8.5/10]

4. Wrestlemania [8.5/10]

5. Royal Rumble [8/10]

The Best WWE Matches Of 2013

These are the "must see" WWE matches of the year.

Punk vs. Lesnar was an all-time classic.

1. Summerslam: CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar [*****]

2. Summerslam: Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena [****3/4]

3. Raw 2/25: John Cena vs. CM Punk [****3/4]

4. WrestleMania XXIX: CM Punk vs. The Undertaker [****3/4]

5. Battleground: The Shield vs. The Rhodes Bros. [****1/2]

6. Payback: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk [****1/2]
7. NXT 8/21: Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn [****1/2]
8. Summerslam: Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio [****1/2]
9. Raw 7/22: Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro [****1/2]
10. Raw 4/22: The Undertaker & Team Hell No vs. The Shield [****1/2]
11. Main Event 5/1: Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro [****1/2]
12. Money In The Bank: Dean Ambrose vs. Damien Sandow vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Fandango vs. Wade Barrett vs. Antonio Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger [****1/2]
13. Payback: Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio [****1/2]
14. WWE Raw 9/9: Goldust vs. Randy Orton [****1/4]
15. Hell In A Cell: The Usos vs. The Rhodes Bros. vs. The Shield [****1/4]



My Thoughts

Last year, the WWE began a steady trek back to awesomeness with a string of electrifying moments to get the world buzzing about pro wrestling again. This year, things were scaled back a bit moment wise and we were instead treated to perhaps the best in-ring year the promotion has ever witnessed. The best story arc of the entire wrestling calendar this year was the exciting rise of Daniel Bryan. Bryan has always been one of the top two or three best wrestlers alive for the past decade, but his ascension to superstar status was the most organic transformation since Stone Cold Steve Austin's meteoric rise sixteen years ago (shit...has it really been that long?). Sure things didn't exactly go according to plan for Bryan post Summerslam, but who could really complain with the incredible amount of free action we were given on Raw, Smackdown, Main Event and even NXT in 2013!? I think when the dust settles and Bryan is given his eventual sustained push to megstardom, all will be forgiven and we can then look back at the WWE's 2013 for what it truly was. Beginning to end, one of the most spectacular thrill rides the company has ever provided.

Overall Grade: A-